Heartless Shadows
by guardsmansparky
Summary: When Minato tries to seal half his soul into Naruto's seal, he is lucky the Shinigami is amused when he finds out. Minato and Kushina soon find themselves thrust into shadow...
1. Chapter 1

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the formerly retired Third Hokage of the ninja Village Hidden in the Leaves, sighed as he looked out at the devastated village through the broken window at the top of the Hokage tower. Not even an hour ago, the village had come under attack from a force of nature. The Kyuubi no Yoko, a massive nine-tailed fox spirit and most powerful of the nine tailed-beasts, had appeared, literally out of nowhere, and had begun to destroy all in sight. Had it not been for the self-sacrifice of Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen's successor to the seat of Hokage, and his wife Kushina Uzumaki, the nine-tailed fox would have destroyed the village, and quite possibly have gone on to ravage other parts of the Land of Fire that the Hidden Leaf Village resided in. As it was, Minato and Kushina had driven the Kyuubi out of the Hidden Leaf before giving their lives to seal the Kyuubi away into their newborn son.

Hiruzen stood at the window, hands clasped behind his back as his mind whirled. This attack should not have been possible. For years, the Kyuubi had been held prisoner within the soul of Kushina Uzumaki, beginning at a young age when she received the Kyuubi from its previous warden, her great-aunt Mito Uzumaki, wife of the First Hokage, on her death bed. The Kyuubi had been trapped within both women's souls by fuuinjustu, the esoteric art of seals. A nearly arcane skillset, fuuinjutsu was more of an art than a science, a master of which could do or contain almost anything he or she set their mind to. The seals holding the Kyuubi to Kushina had been a masterpiece of Uzumaki sealing, the Uzumaki clan being the undisputed masters of the art of Fuuinjutsu.

As every seals master worth his salt knew, the seal of a female tailed beast container, or jinchuriki, would destabilize during childbirth, granting the bijuu within a chance at escape. Kushina had been due to go into labor soon. To prevent the kyuubi's escape, Minato, a seals master with skills on par with those of the Uzumaki of old, had been at his wife's side to stabilize the seal. It should not have broken. As such, Hiruzen came to one inescapable conclusion: someone had attacked the Kyuubi jinchuriki and had deliberately released the Kyuubi and unleashed it upon The Hidden Leaf. The question was, how had the assailant gotten past the elite guards and Minato himself? Who had killed the nursemaid and his dearest Biwako before—A sudden bloodcurdling scream from the neighboring room broke Hiruzen from his dark musings.

Minutes earlier, as the aging Sarutobi stood deep in thought, newborn Naruto Uzumaki lay in a crib, whimpering in his sleep as a dark shadow loomed over him. The shadow, a chuunin by the name of Takeshi Keisotsu, stared down at the fitfully slumbering babe. Jaws clenched as tight as the fist around his kunai knife, Takeshi brought the knife up to strike at the dozing demon in disguise. He took in a shuddering breath as he steeled himself with the memory of his family.

"Never shall you menace another family again, demon." The knife came down. A loud, almost deafening clunk sounded in the silent room.

For a long moment, Takeshi could only stare at the knife on the ground. Time seemed to stand still as he took in the sight of his hand clutching the knife, and the strange lack of blood. Just as suddenly as time had stopped, time resumed, Takeshi falling to his knees with a gasp of shock as a geyser of blood spewed from the stump that used to be his forearm. Weakly clasping his bleeding arm, Takeshi looked on in breathless horror as the darkness in the room coalesced into two shadowy humanoid figures in front of him. As one clasped a razor-sharp clawed hand around his throat and lifted him above its head, Takeshi gave loose a bloodcurdling scream.

Hiruzen Sarutobi burst through the door, bo staff in hand, in time to see a featureless humanoid the color of the midnight sky hoisting one profusely bleeding Takeshi Keisotsu bodily by the neck as another humanoid the dark red of freshly spilled arterial blood held the newly born Naruto Uzumaki, the only notable feature on both humanoids the pair of jagged antennae that reached for the floor. Hiruzen could only watch in horror as Takeshi was casually beheaded as the creature almost lazily closed its hand into a fist. Roaring with rage as the headless corpse collapsed limply, Hiruzen leapt at the ninja's executioner. However, the creature stopped Hiruzen's attack with one hand almost effortlessly.

Hiruzen grit his teeth as he struggled to free his bo staff from the creature's grip. He sneered at the creature as he met its solid sky-blue eyes. "You'll regret even coming here before I am through with…" Hiruzen trailed off as he stared into those deep blue eyes that danced and glittered with a joviality that was hauntingly familiar to him. "…Minato?" The claw gripping his bo staff loosened and fell to the creature's side.

Hiruzen leapt back as Takeshi's body suddenly dissolved into motes of light to be replaced by a pink floating cartoonish heart. Entranced, Hiruzen reached out with one hand towards the softly glowing heart, only to wrench his hand back as the heart was pierced by a black chain that seemed to absorb the light in the room. As heart evaporated into smoke and motes of shadow, Hiruzen stared at the crimson creature holding—no—gently cradling Naruto as it gazed at him with soft violet eyes. There was only one person, dead or alive, that Hiruzen knew of with those chains. Indeed, with that coloring and the noticeably more feminine build, there was only one person it could be. "…Kushina?"

As Hiruzen stared, the motes of darkness from the destroyed heart gathered, coming together until they formed a pitch-black, yellow-eyed creature the size of a child. Hiruzen took note how the shadow was almost identical in appearance to what he assumed were Minato and Kushina. 'Shadow, a good name for what they have become, I think.'

Hiruzen looked into Minato's eyes. "How…is this possible?" As he stared into the creature's solid blue eyes, Hiruzen began to see images flash through his mind.

_The Shinigami watched as the mortals gave up their souls to him in exchange for locking away the raging Kyuubi. As the sealing came to a close, the death god reached into the blonde mortal's body and pulled out a soul. In another time and place, the death god would have been too concerned with tracking down certain…reticent…souls to notice anything amiss. However, this was not to be. _

_Seeing that he only had half a soul in his grasp, the Shinigami took a closer look at the three bodies curled up together. Dismissing the two empty corpses, the death god inspected the fresh seal written on the newborn's stomach, idly noting the three whisker-like birthmarks on either cheek. Reading the intricate calligraphy of the seal, a trivial matter for a god such as himself, the Shinigami found what he was looking for. Smiling cruelly, the death god plunged his ethereal hand into the seal, and pulled out two broken souls._

_Kushina and Minato stared in horror at the death god clutching them in its grasp. Their last ditch plan to provide some form of protection to their only child had failed before it could even begin. Before the souls of the two parents could recover their wits, they were stilled as the Shinigami began to chuckle, a dry raspy thing that invoked the imagery of shifting bones in a mouldy crypt. The Shinigami brought the two souls close to his face._

"_You amuse me, mortals__." The god's voice was akin to the dry winds of a cracked wasteland, his breath a rancid fog of decaying flesh. "__Many a mortal soul has summoned me…and made a deal with me…only to try and…renege on their part of the deal…as soon as they got what they wanted, wanting…more. But you…you did so for your child…something even I can respect.__" Kushina and Minato looked at each other in confusion. "__For entertaining me…I shall grant you your wish…__"_

_The Shinigami thrust the two souls into the shadow of the blonde infant below him. Withdrawing his empty hand from the shadow, the Shinigami vanished from the plane of the living, his parting words lingering in the dead air around the ceremonial alter. _

"_Be careful what you wish for…__"_

_The next thing Minato and Kushina knew, there was a man standing over a crib, a knife ready to strike down. Reacting instinctively, the two erupted from their baby's shadow to defend him._

Hiruzen staggered as the visions ceased running through his mind. He turned to Minato and Kushina. "Is…that…I…I don't know what to say. Are, are you alright with this?" Minato and Kushina nodded, eliciting a sigh from the aged leader. He gestured vaguely at the jerkily twitching Shadow at their feet and where the corpse had disappeared. "Is…this…going to be a regular occurrence?"

Minato and Kushina looked at the small creature at their feet then looked at each other before shrugging helplessly, they had no idea that would happen, but it had seemed…right. Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his wrinkled forehead as he turned to leave the room. "Just…try to keep the bloodshed and paperwork to a minimum. I need to find out why there was an armed man in here, how he got past security, and who the hell told him about the seal!"

Carefully placing Naruto back into the crib, Minato and Kushina stood over their child, embracing happily as the sleeping infant used the newly created Shadow as a teddy bear.

**I apologize to those of you awaiting the next installment of Aura Shinobi, but I hit a horrible case of writer's block, followed by Real Life kicking me in the proverbial Oompa-Loompas. Then I got this plot bunny: What if the Shinigami wasn't fooled by Minato only giving him half his soul? And then it went from there. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.**

**Guardsman Sparky**


	2. Chapter 2

Gennin Hikui Basho stared up at the imposing edifice of the old, decrepit looking apartment building. Swallowing dryly, Hikui turned around to see his two teammates poking their heads and upper bodies out from behind the corner they hid behind. Seeing him turn to them, they made pushing motions with their hands towards the darkened building. Despite the day being cloudless and sunny, the atmosphere around the apartments seemed to be cast in an ever present air of darkness and shadow. Shakily, Hikui began to step towards the shadowed main entrance, each step planted carefully before gently placing the other foot forward, as if making his way through a minefield.

As he made his way towards the front door, Hikui contemplated just how much he _hated_ this particular D-Rank mission. 'Sometimes,' he thought, 'I'd almost rather go after that damned demon cat than this…almost.' As he neared the front stoop, Hikui gently placed the week's worth of groceries on the step. Bracing himself, Hikui reached out to press the buzzer. Pushing the unimposing button, Hikui lit out from the fenced off yard like the bats of hell were after him, silently promising to do everything in his inconsiderable power to _never_ have to come back here again, his team scrambling after him as he passed them.

Had Hikui and the rest of his team stayed but a few moments longer they would have seen the door throw the stoop into shadows as it was opened. When the door closed, the stoop was empty, as if nothing had ever been there at all.

* * *

Shibou Shounin hefted the lit torch in his hand as he stood at the head of the lynch mob. Shibou, in his own _modest_ opinion, was an upstanding citizen of the Hidden Leaf and the Land of Fire who was a respectable businessman with businesses across the country. In truth, Shibou was a fraud and a cheat up to his neck in ponzi schemes, scamming renters, and, ironically enough, fraud. As such, Shibou was making money hand over fist. That is, until the Kyuubi attacked on October 10th. When the dust had settled, Shibou was all but ruined, in his mind at least. In reality, while Shibou had lost most of his more legitimate sources of money in Konoha, the Leaf Village's official name, what was left in the rest of the Land of Fire still brought in more money than most families made in two years.

Once the identity of the newly made jinchuriki was leaked to the public, Shibou was amongst the first and most vocal of those calling for Naruto's execution. When no such actions were taken against the child and a law was passed forbidding talk of the Kyuubi's true fate, Shibou fell into drink, letting his hatred fester in shady bars and the dregs of cheap sake bottles. Eventually, Shibou, coming across 'the Demon's Lair' with an empty bottle, lost what little rationality he had left. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Shibou gathered a mob of like-minded people with the intentions of storming the apartment complex and lynching the demon before setting the building aflame. Seeing that his mob was slavering away at the bit to get started, Shibou thrust the burning torch at the gates of the complex, mentally comparing himself to a samurai general leveling his katana at a distant enemy as he did so.

Gaining easy entry to the complex, the mob stormed into the lobby. Once the last member of the mob was inside, the doors closed with an ominous creak.

As the mob congregated in the lobby, Shibou jumped up onto the abandoned security desk to address his fellow _concerned_ citizens. "Spread out and search the place room by room! Find the brat, and bring it here so that we can finally enact justice for all its victims! Leave no stone unturned! And if anyone tries to stop us, let them share its fate!" Roaring in approval, the mob split up into small groups and swarmed through the halls. Jumping down from the security desk, Shibou led a small group to begin his search on the top floors. As the last person left the lobby, the shadows shifted.

* * *

Okotta Hito grumbled and groused as he went from room to room on his own in his search for the 'demon childe,' having been separated from his group. "People these days, no common decency in anybody anymore. I mean really, I turn around for one second, and everybody's ditched me. Bunch of ingrates."

A distant sound made Okotta pause. 'Was that…a scream?' He waited, but the sound did not repeat itself. 'C'mon man, get a holda yerself. All this talk about demons has got you hearing things.'

Leaving yet another empty room, Okotta tried the next door, letting out a low whistle as he entered. Whoever had lived here in this apartment before most likely dying during the Kyuubi attack had been an avid collector of vintage samurai weapons and paraphernalia. Several suits of samurai armor, ranging from yoroi with lacquered leather scales to plate armor Tosei-gusuko, stood around the room. Each one was paired with a wooden display rack filled with katana, spears, daisho, yumi, and other weapons utilized by samurai. There was even a suit of steel plate armor from the lands across the western seas holding a broadsword, complete with display case showing off a variety of western weaponry.

A sudden skittering pulled Okotta away from admiring the pseudo-armory, the man waving his torch around in front of him in an attempt to spread the torch's light. Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when nothing jumped out at him, Okotta decided to browse for a weapon suited for ending a depowered demon's life. Standing in front of the suit of western armor ('They call their samurai 'knights' over there, don't they?'), Okotta contemplated the wide-bladed sword the westerners called a 'broadsword.' 'Rather unimaginative over there, ain't they?'

A warm feeling trickling down his chin made Okotta wipe a finger across his lips, puzzling over the red that came away on his hand. 'Blood? When did—gah!'

A burning pain in his chest pulled a gasp from the man's lungs. Dropping his torch, Okotta looked down. He saw five fingertips poking through his shirt before everything went black.

* * *

Minato would have sneered had he still had a mouth as the man's body dissolved into light, leaving the cartoonish pink Heart glowing softly in his hand. When the morons had broken in, Minato and Kushina had begun hunting the intruders down, leaving the solitary Shadow behind to protect Naruto.

Minato grimaced as he held the Heart up to his face. He and Kushina had been killing these civilians easily, converting the hatred-tainted Hearts into Shadows, which had then gone on to hunt down their former allies. Unfortunately, the last group the pack of Shadows had run into had a retired shinobi with them. While the Shadows had ultimately overcome the group, most had been taken out by the retired ninja. Fortunately, it appeared that most of the Shadows would regenerate, although it looked to need a few days.

It would seem that Shadows would not be much use against a ninja unless they attacked en-masse, Minato mused. Nor did it seem that the newest form would be very effective, as this newest creature created from the black Heart of the ex-Jounin was essentially just an adult sized Shadow. If only there was a way to make stronger Heartless (…yesss…Heartless…that name seemed right, the way these people went after an infant.). If only…

Minato's gaze slid from the Heart to stare at the suit of western armor. Contemplating the armor, Minato looked at the Heart in his hand, then back at the armor curiously. Wondering, Minato _pushed_ the Heart into the chest-plate. As he took a step back, the armor began to twitch and rattle.

* * *

To say Shibou was not happy would be an understatement. In fact, Shibou was an equal amount furious and terrified. Something had been picking off his men one-by-one every time their backs were turned; leaving him with only two—make that one person left out of a group of twelve. He had come to this accursed place in order to kill the demon that had cost him so much, now; he just wanted to get out of the dark apartment complex in one piece.

_Clank…clank…clank…_

Shibou froze. He whispered aside to his lackey. "Did you hear that?"

The man opened his mouth to answer, only to cough up a mouthful of blood. As Shibou watched helplessly, the man's torso slid apart diagonally before dissolving into specks of light, leaving a cartoonish pink Heart floating in mid-air. Shibou was frozen in terror as a metal monstrosity slowly stepped into the flickering torchlight.

It could only be described as an animate suit of plate armor. The head was a conical-beaked helmet perched atop its torso. Fused to the right arm was a wide, double-bladed sword, while the legs were shaped like sharp, pointed goat legs, the living armor somehow balancing itself on two points not unlike a metal ballerina. Adorned on its chest was a crest depicting a black heart framed by red thorns, the bottom half of a fleur-de-lis protruding from the bottom point of the heart.

Shibou backed away as the armor approached the floating Heart. He could only watch as the beaked helmet _ate_ the Heart, his own heart skipping several beats when the monstrosity grew in size before splitting off into two identical copies. As the twin armors inexorably advanced, the shadows curling around them like otherworldly serpents, Shibou began to slowly back up.

Shibou's heart seized as his back hit something with a metallic _clang_. Shaking like a leaf in a storm, Shibou slowly turned to see what was behind him. The last thing he ever saw was the oni-masked visage of an animated suit of samurai armor and a spray of red.

* * *

That was the last anyone ever heard of Shibou or his mob. His was but the first to disappear into the bowels of the apartment complex in an attempt to 'destroy the demon,' but it would not be the last.

**AN: Welcome to the second installment of Heartless Shadows. I thank everyone who has decided to follow and fav my work. To those waiting on the next chapter of Aura Shinobi…I really hate writers block. **

**Spark681: Honestly, Minato and Kushina still have their memories and personalities because the death god himself did it. All other heartless following them, unless otherwise stated, will be no more than drones following their, and eventually Naruto's, orders.**

**RyoKyo: Does this chapter satisfy your request?**


	3. Chapter 3

3 Years AK (After Kyuubi)

It wasn't long before people noticed that entire mobs of people were disappearing into what had come to be known as 'The Fox's Den.' This didn't stop drunks and groups hell-bent on enacting 'justice' from invading the apartment complex though. The mobs and attacks did not stop until one night a mob went in, and hours later, a single survivor came running out the front doors screaming bloody murder. As a crowd gathered around the man, he went into a fit, clawing at the wall of a building while screaming about imps, demons, and hellish samurai. There were bloody claw marks adorning the wall when the Konoha Military Police arrived and carried the man away. As far as everyone knew, the man was sitting in a nice, padded room to this day.

Most people took the crazy man's words as the ramblings of a madman, believing that the fox brat was protected by elite ninja (it was not unheard of for ninja to drive civilians insane with nightmarish illusions) or that the Kyuubi was playing with his victims. However, there were those who took the survivor's words literally. One person in particular could be found sitting in an empty room before a roaring fire, a walking cane held in his one good hand.

A sharp _crack _sounded as the cane rapped against the stone floor. The man waited until the sharp retort stopped echoing through the chamber. "Observe and report on the Fox's Den. Be wary while on site. Several retired chunin-level and higher ninja have gone missing there. Do not be seen. Do not interfere in any way. Now, go!"

The black-clad ninja kneeling before the man struck his chest with a closed fist before vanishing in a swirl of leaves, the blank expanse of his white mask the last to go.

* * *

Saeta Asashin, rogue ninja formerly of the Hidden Mist Village of Kirigakure, was sorely regretting taking on an assassination mission from that shifty looking Leaf civilian, but to be honest, the money was too good to pass up. As a rogue ninja, more colloquially known as a missing-nin, Saeta often had to live with the bare minimum between missions, going without more often than not. So, when a civilian had approached the rogue with an exorbitant amount of cash in exchange for assassinating some brat, he had agreed. He hadn't been looking forward to killing a child, but ninja, especially rogue ninja, couldn't really afford to be picky, not with that much money on the line.

It had all started out so well too. Having been smuggled in through a smuggler's tunnel under the massive walls surrounding the Leaf Village, it was child's play for the missing-nin to avoid the patrols. Arriving at the apartment building complex, entry was as simple as walking in through the front door. All was going according to schedule; right up until Saeta turned a corner and found himself face to mask with several heavily armored figures with just as many squat, black creatures gathered around their feet. Letting loose a lightning technique that left several of the metal men twitching and spasming on the ground, Saeta turned on his heels and fled down the corridor, the mass of armor clanking after him.

Cursing his employer for leaving out the fact that a veritable army resided in the apartment complex, Saeta took a corner at speed, pushing off the wall to avoid a crash. Several of the armored Heartless were not so lucky, piling up on each other as they crashed into the corner. The rest of the Heartless followed Saeta's example and bounced off the wall in their pursuit.

Smirking at the pile-up behind him, Saeta flashed through several hand seals, firing off a fire technique at the wall in front of him to make an exit from which to escape. Unfortunately for the rogue, he found out the hard way that it hadn't worked when he jumped through the smoke, and crashed into the wall.

Staggering back a step, Saeta glared at the wall with watering eyes as he gingerly held his broken nose. Noticing the faint glimmering patterns on the wall, Saeta cursed silently. 'Shit, shit, shit. Seals! Shit! I've gotta get to a window or something before I—yipe!'

Having momentarily forgotten about his pursuers, Saeta barely managed to dodge the swinging sword of the lead knight. Landing, the rogue snapped out with a sidekick to send the knight crashing into the rest of the pack, knocking them all over like bowling pins. Not waiting for the armored devils to get up, Saeta dashed off down the hallway.

Looking over his shoulder, Saeta was surprised when he saw that the knights and Shadows had stopped chasing him. Turning back to his front, Saeta's eyes shot wide with terror. Before he could so much as scream, the rogue nin was rent into bloody bits by a wall of surging black chains. All that was left, was a bloodied and scratched forehead protector and a pink floating Heart.

* * *

Kushina contemplated the heart floating before her as the last of her black chains retracted back into her body. Dismissing the Shadows and the Armored Knights and Samurai, Kushina thought of how to mold this particular heart.

In the three years since the Kyuubi had been released and subsequently sealed into her baby boy, there had been many attacks on her new home and family. As a result, they had had many Hearts with which to experiment with. Living Statues, murderous plants, and armored lancers who didn't really get along with their lances were amongst the newest types of Heartless.

Interestingly, it was discovered that the few Yamanakas and Naras converted, both from clans notorious for techniques that let the users take over an enemy's body, became bodiless balls of shadow with a knack for possessing inanimate objects. Another thing that had come as a surprise was that eating the hearts allowed the Heartless to grow stronger until they split off into two identical clones.

"Mama, I bored."

Blinking, Kushina averted attention from the Heart, looking down to find her precocious three year old staring up at her. The crimson skinned Heartless was perplexed, and rightly so. It had been her turn to take out intruders while it was Minato's turn to watch Naruto in his playroom, which was on the other end of the compound. Before Kushina could ask about it though, Naruto's eyes caught the sight of the floating Heart.

"Shiny!"

Kushina watched in surprise as the Heart drifted into Naruto's outstretched hands, her heart almost stopping (metaphorically speaking, of course.) when her precious baby momentarily glowed red with the Kyuubi's chakra. As she moved to stifle the caustic youki, she was brought to a halt as the Heart was engulfed in a miniature storm of roiling shadow and darkness. Soon, the churning ball of shadow and darkness was replaced with something else.

"Mama, Mama, look, I make friend! He a sold-er!"

Kushina nodded as she took in the Heartless in her only son's hands. It was a small Heartless, only coming halfway up her torso. On its body was a blue-green jumpsuit with the Heartless crest on it, the gloved fingers ending in red claws; while on its feet were an almost comical pair of pointed shoes. It head was concealed by a helmet topped with a scraggly-looking plume, a pair of glowing yellow eyes showing through the open conical visor that threatened to slam shut with the slightest movement.

Looking between the ecstatic toddler and the new-born Heartless Soldier, Kushina suggested to that he should go show his new friend to his father. Beaming, Naruto nodded rapidly, before disappearing in a vortex of dark shadows.

Staring at the spot her baby had just been, Kushina tried to come to terms with the fact that her son had just used the same portal that the Heartless used, despite being human. While at least the question of how Naruto had gotten away from Minato had been answered, Kushina knew that that fact would prove to be a handful in the future. Sighing internally, Kushina bent over and picked up the scratched-out Kiri forehead protector that had been left behind.

* * *

The blank-masked spy continued to kneel as he finished his report. The man in the chair picked up a cup of tea, the fire in the grate reflecting light off the fine porcelain.

"So, the child is protected by creatures of shadow created from the bodies of those they kill. And you say the child can also do so, in addition to being able to travel by shadows?"

The blank-masked ninja nodded. "Yessir!"

"I see. Have his name stricken from the list of possible candidates. If the child has protectors, it would be more trouble than it is worth to recruit him."

Taking that as his dismissal, the ninja stood, clasping a fist to his chest in salute as he bowed before vanishing. The man in the chair was left staring into the roaring fire as he sipped his tea.

"You intrigue me, Naruto Uzumaki. I shall look forward to watching your career in the future."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was almost done with the day's paperwork when a bloodied and scratched-out forehead protector from Kiri appeared on his desk in a swirl of black shadows. Groaning, he turned on the intercom.

"Hisho, can you bring me forms B-28 through F-8?"

"Of course sir."

As the intercom turned off, Hiruzen hid his face in his hands with a whimper, already dreading the additional paperwork. He was almost free! Why, oh why did the gods hate him so?


	4. Chapter 4

Five years AK

Naruto sat happily swinging on a set of swings as he enjoyed his visit to the local playground. He didn't know why everybody would leave as soon as he got there or stay as far from him as possible. It made making friends somewhat difficult. Fortunately for him, Naruto had plenty of friends amongst the Heartless. The only unfortunate thing was that they didn't talk much.

A ruckus made Naruto look to his left, bringing his attention to a group of older children that hadn't noticed him. Hopping off the swings, Naruto meandered over to see if they wanted to be his friends. One could never have too many friends.

However, as Naruto came closer, he saw that the older boys were beating up a midnight-blue haired girl wearing a lavender sweater. Panicking, Naruto called out, seemingly to thin air.

"Sully!"

A five-foot tall Soldier Heartless with a green-blue body appeared in a swirl of black. The named Soldier greeted Naruto with a smart salute.

Naruto pointed at the bullies beating on the pretty girl. "They're hurting her!"

Understanding the order lying underneath the outburst, Sully summoned several more Soldiers, but a head shorter and with midnight blue bodies this time. Saluting, the squad of Heartless charged at the bullies, visors clanking with every step.

The bullies remained ignorant of the encroaching heartless until one, disturbed by the clanking, turned around and yelped in surprise. Turning, the bullies saw the charging Soldiers. Screaming in shock and fear, the bullies fled, leaving the girl huddled on the ground. The Soldiers, having chased off the miscreants, surrounded the girl and formed a perimeter as Naruto went to check on the girl.

"Hi there!"

The blue-haired girl looked up at Naruto hesitantly with big, pupil-less lavender eyes. She looked up at him and Sully with trepidation.

"Are you okay?"

The girl nodded slowly, still keeping an eye on the green-blue…thing with glowing yellow eyes. She was caught off-guard by the big smile as bright as his yellow hair that crossed his face.

"Awesome! Do you want to be my friend?"

There was a long moment of silence. Just as Naruto was afraid that the girl would say "no" just like everyone else he had asked, the girl responded with a soft smile.

"O-okay."

Beaming brightly, Naruto stuck out a hand to help the girl get up. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Blushing, the girl accepted the offered hand. "Hinata Hyuuga."

Pulling Hinata to her feet, Naruto and Hinata found themselves staring into each other's eyes. After a moment, they looked away with small blushes, though they didn't know why. As she turned back to Naruto, Hinata blinked as she saw something was missing. "Um…wh-where's your other f-friend?"

Naruto blinked. "Who, Sully? He's right…" The blonde went to gesture to the side, only to see nothing but an empty playground. Looking around, Naruto shrugged. "Eh, guess he wandered off. He does that sometimes." He pouted. "I hate it when he does it in the middle of talking."

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's slightly annoyed expression. The laughter proved to be infectious as Naruto started to giggle before the two of them fell into full blown laughter. As the laughing subsided, the two five year-olds chased each other onto and around the various equipment that littered the playground.

* * *

From the trees around the playground, Fushin Hyuuga sneered as he watched the Hyuuga heiress play with the resident demon of the Fox's Den. Ostensibly, he was supposed to keep an eye on the heiress and protect her as chaperone and bodyguard. However, Fushin was secretly under orders from the Hyuuga clan council of elders to isolate the girl from her peers and to ensure that she remained weak to allow them to replace her with someone more…traditional than the progeny of the gentle and peaceful Hitomi Hyuuga.

Allowing the girl to be bullied and beat up was a perfect way to do so, so long as Fushin remembered to heal any bruises away. The girl was so passive that she'd never report the bullying for fear of causing a commotion. And then the damn fox brat had to go and ruin it. He'd have to do something about that. Fortunately, the demonic minions that the brat had summoned had returned to wherever they had been called from.

He smirked cruelly. The blonde baka would never be able to summon help if he was surprised from behind. Then, once the brat was disposed of, he could knock out the girl and use the memory seal the elders had given him. Once her memory of the day had been wiped, he could leave a lump on her head and claim that she had fallen and hit her head. People lost memories from head trauma all the time.

So engrossed was he in his planned homicide that Fushin never noticed that he was leaking a miniscule amount of killing intent. It was just enough that only a high-jounin level shinobi would be able to detect it.

A jounin, or a creature that had once been a jounin.

Sully, as the first of the Soldier strain of Heartless had been named (as Naruto had begun to call him Sol, then Solly before it mutated to what it now was), watched the blank-eyed man plotting in the branches below him. Sully was slightly different from most other Heartless. Having been exposed to the Kyuubi's powerful youki during his creation, he had retained most of his memories as a human, and some of his previous personality as well. As such, he was one of the more independent Heartless, able to think for himself. As all Heartless though, he was irrevocably loyal to Naruto.

Having felt the trickle of killing intent once the bullies had been chased away, Sully had silently ordered the other, lesser Soldiers to vanish to hiding places and wait. Then, as the status of being the only 'General' class Heartless allowed him, Sully summoned several Shadows, Neoshadows, Creeper Plants, and a single Possessor and ordered them to do the same.

As the two children had played on the playground, blissfully ignorant of what was happening around them, the Heartless had fanned out around the Playground and the surrounding forest. Slowly, but surely, Fushin was trapped, every possible avenue of escape cut off. Despite the "all-seeing eyes" of the Hyuuga clan, Fushin never even noticed.

As Fushin started to move towards the playing children, Sully gave his orders. As the Soldiers kept an eye out for passersby and the two children, Shadows and Neoshadows melted out of the shadows to surround Fushin. The traitorous Hyuuga froze in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Shadows, quickly assessing them as a possible threat. He didn't notice the vines that were tying him up until he tried to turn around and they gagged him.

As Fushin struggled with the vines summoned by the Creeper Plants, Sully landed on the branch in front of him and mentally summoned the Possessor. Fushin shuddered and shook violently as the Possessor entered his body before he stilled as his eyes became empty as it took full control.

Receiving the Possessor's silent report (it was far more efficient to use the short-ranged instantaneous transfer of information capable between Heartless than to use the possessed man's voice), Sully's glowing yellow eyes narrowed. This was something the Alphashadow and the Omegashadow needed to hear. Sending a mental ping for assistance, Sully soon got a response.

Before long, the Midnight and Crimson forms of Minato and Kushina arrived in a vortex of shadows and darkness. Receiving the report from Sully, the two looked to each other and nodded. This was something the Hokage needed to hear for himself. The Creeper Plants' vines withdrew at the Alpha- and Omegashadow's command, the possessed body of Fushin lurching as the Possessor took control of his motor functions.

Leaving Sully to keep an eye on the playing children, Minato and Kushina took Fushin with them to see the Hokage.

* * *

Hiruzen looked up as a portal of dusk and shade materialized in the middle of his office. Pressing a finger to his desk, the elderly Hokage channeled chakra into the intercom seal on his desk. "Kasumi, hold my appointments will you?"

A response came immediately. _"Of course sir."_

"Thank you." Looking up from the intercom, Hiruzen was surprised to see not only Minato and Kushina emerge, but a Hyuuga as well. Looking closely, he saw the dead eyes and jerky movements indicative of a possession. He looked at Minato and Kushina. "Care to explain?"

To his surprise though, it was the possessed Hyuuga that explained. The elderly Hokage cringed at the unnaturally echoing and raspy voice. "TrEaChErY. SuMmOn HiAsSsHi."

Cocking an eyebrow, Hiruzen once again pressed a finger to his intercom seal. "Kasumi, send for Hiash Hyuuga please."

"_Right away sir!"_

Before long, the intercom seal buzzed. _"Sir, Hiashi Hyuuga is here to see you as requested."_

Hiruzen nodded as he pressed the intercom. "Excellent. Send him in please."

The office door opened to admit Hiashi Hyuuga, the long, black-haired Hyuuga clan head and father to Hinata Hyuuga. He nodded respectfully to the Hokage before turning to Minato and Kushina. Noticing the possessed Hyuuga in the corner, Hiashi thought back to the first time he had seen their new forms.

It had been a meeting called amongst the heads of most of the major clans in Konoha to discuss the disappearances of several clan members who had ventured into the Fox's Den with hostile intent, including one branch house Hyuuga who had not inherited the family bloodline. The situation now felt very similar.

"This is Fushin Hyuuga, he is supposed to be watching my eldest daughter." Hiashi turned to the Hokage. "What has happened to my daughter?"

Hiruzen held out a hand, palm out. "Peace Hiashi, I got the story while waiting for you. Hinata is safe at a playground with Naruto, guarded by the Heartless."

"I see." It was barely visible on his features, but Hiashi was relieved. He turned to look at Fushin. "Would anybody care to explain this then?"

The elderly Hokage solemnly conveyed what they had learned from the Possessor's viewing of Fushin's memories. At the end, Hiashi's jaw was clenched in a visible attempt to keep his anger in check. As he fought his rage, Possessor-Fushin said something that caused his already boiling blood to turn to ice. "HiAsHi…ThErE iS mOrE…"

Hiashi looked on expectantly.

"MeMoRiEs Of ThE eLdErS…tAlKs Of YoUr WiFe…AnD pOiSoN…"

It looked like Hiashi was in danger of popping a blood vessel. Breathing deeply, the Hyuuga clan head addressed the Hokage. "If you'll excuse me, Lord Hokage, it appears that I have to clean house." He looked at Minato and Kushina with his white eyes. "I trust you know where Hinata's bedroom is?"

The two nodded, the Possessor having taken that knowledge from Fushin's mind. "Then please be sure to get her home by dinner."

Turning, Hiashi turned to leave, only to be stopped by the Hokage.

"Hiashi." The Hokage gestured at the still possessed Fushin. "Aren't you forgetting something."

Hiashi paused. "Yes. Do with him as you will. He is no longer Hyuuga." With that, the clan head left, formal robes swishing viciously around his ankles.

As the door closed, Hiruzen gestured to Fushin. "Minato, Kushina, could you…?"

Nodding in understanding, the two Heartless gave a silent command.

Fushin suddenly doubled over as a cloud of black poured from his mouth. As his faculties returned to him, the former Hyuuga whipped his head around to gawk at his sudden new (to him anyways) surroundings, eyes finally settling on the Hokage. The man froze like a deer in headlights.

Hiruzen stood and cleared his throat imperiously. "Fushin Nanashi, exile of the Hyuuga clan, you have been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Your sentence is death. Do you have any last words?"

Eyes wide, Fushin tried to bolt, only to be flayed and dismembered by the Midnight and Crimson Heartless before he took more than a single step. Hiruzen stared down dispassionately at the remains and the resulting pink Heart. "I suppose not. Pity."

Sitting down, the elderly Hokage watched in interest as the Heart was engulfed in darkness before transforming into a floating torso with large, lamp-like eyes, one of which hung from the socket by a small chain. Shaking his head, Hiruzen sighed.

"Alright, this has been fun and all, but everyone needs to go home. I have to fill out the paperwork for this."

Bowing, the Heartless all left, leaving Hiruzen alone once more. Sighing deeply, the Hokage reached for the intercom to have his secretary bring him the appropriate paperwork.

He paused.

"Do we even have a form for this?"

**AN: Well, another chapter, another strain of Heartless. Welcome to the family: the Search Ghost!**

**Also, I have decided that Minato and Kushina are too powerful to be even Novashadows, so I made up new classes for them: the Alphashadow and the Omegashadow and made Minato the color of the midnight sky to help differentiate him from other Heartless.**

**Cheers.**

**Also, for the most part, I will not be having any canon boss Heartless, as, with a few exceptions, the boss Heartless were all designed with a certain world in mind, such as the thunder dragon from The Land of Dragons (Mulan) and the earthshaker from the Pridelands (Lion King). As such, my boss Heartless will all be OCs.**


End file.
